Obverse

The Virgin standing, holding Christ. On either side the sigla: ̅ΘΥ̅ : Μήτηρ Θεοῦ. Linear border.

Reverse

Inscription of seven lines, a cross above. Border of dots.

ΜΕ̅ΡΘΥ̅ΣΦΡΑΓΙΕΚΑΙΓΡΑΦΑΣΤΥΠΟΥΜΑΚΡΕΜΟΛΙΤΜΕΘΥΜΝΗΣΘΕΟΔΡ

Μῆτερ Θεοῦ σφράγιζε καὶ γραφὰς τύπου Μακρεμβολίτου Μεθύμνης Θεοδώρου

Translation

Μῆτερ Θεοῦ σφράγιζε καὶ γραφὰς τύπου Μακρεμβολίτου Μεθύμνης Θεοδώρου.

Mother of God, seal and confirm the letters of Theodore Makrembolites, (metropolitan) of Methymna.

Commentary

This is one of six seals from the same boulloterion edited jointly. See the list below.

Two dodecasyllabic verses.

Methymna (Molybos), the second most important city of the island of Lesbos, is listed in the notitiae as an archbishopric; some time between 1072 (REB 18 [1960] 57) and 1084/1085 (ibid., 68), it was raised to the rank of metropolis, probably close to 1080. See Laurent, Corpus V/1, 622, 646; Fedalto, 213-15; Malamut, Iles, 232, 275, 356, 370.